RVA Vegan Pizza Guide
Me with a beautiful vegan pizza from Bottom’s Up!
For anyone who is vegan, you know the struggle when it comes to finding a decent vegan pizza. In my opinion, it’s all about the cheese (oh, and maybe the dough too)! I decided to round up some of my favorite vegan pizzas in Richmond to give you a guide to the best of the best. Here are my favorites!
Mellow Mushroom
Mellow Mushroom is a chain, but is a pretty popular pizza joint here in RVA. I’ve had their vegan pizza several times now. I do love the amount of topping choices they have, especially some of the specialty pizzas that they have at certain locations only. I usually build my own pie (since I like to add tofu!) or I order the Veg Out, which comes with their red sauce, mozzarella (I sub regular cheese for vegan cheese–they use Follow Your Heart!), spinach, green peppers, mushrooms, onions, black olives and tomatoes. When you order your pizza, be sure to ask for vegan cheese and no butter on the dough. Most servers will know exactly what you’re talking about if you’re already asking for vegan cheese.
OVERALL: Mellow Mushroom is great for when you’re eating out with a large group of people and they’re not all vegan. They have a wide variety of items on their menu other than pizza, too. For me, they tend to put a lot of cheese on the pizza, and Follow Your Heart is not one of my favorites. Also, for the price point, I would much rather visit a more local place!
Fresca on Addison
Fresca is all-vegetarian cafe in Richmond and everything on their menu can also be made vegan. They have soups, sandwiches, salads, tacos, snacks, and the best thing of all, brick-oven pizzas! Anyone who puts mushrooms on pizza is automatically one of my favorites and their Mushroom Brick Oven Pizza did not disappoint! The crust was a little thin, but perfectly crispy from the oven, and covered in cremini mushrooms, red onion, pine nuts, a cauliflower white sauce, and Follow Your Heart vegan cheese. As seen above, FYH is not the best vegan cheese in my opinion, but Fresca’s vegan cauliflower white sauce really took it up a notch! It made such a creamy texture and really gave the pizza an amazing depth of flavor.
OVERALL: I loved Fresca’s pizza and I think it’s a great addition to their menu. While the vegan cheese is still not the best, I love their creative use of making a cauliflower sauce to add a nice touch. Such a cute place and great for a lunch date or afternoon snack!
Bottom’s Up
A Richmond classic, Bottom’s Up literally has the best pizza crust/dough ever. It’s fluffy, crispy, soft, doughy, and just an all around amazing hunk of carbs. The dough really makes this pizza, so when I go, I like to order a plain vegan cheese pizza with red sauce and occasionally I’ll add mushrooms. They use Daiya cheese, which doesn’t always taste the greatest, but their dough makes up for it.
OVERALL: Daiya has a very signature taste and they tend to be heavy-handed with the cheese. I’m sure you could ask for less, but for me, this place is all about the dough. The dough is worth it!
The Hop Craft Pizza & Beer
This restaurant won 3rd place for Best Vegan Dish in last year’s Vegan72 event for their pizza, The Pickleback, which is now a permanent menu item. With a white sesame seed crust, red sauce, UnMoo cheese, dill pickles, soy chorizo, and hot pepper relish, this pizza is one of the best vegan pizzas I’ve ever had. The toppings seem like a strange combo, but they all work so well together! And if you haven’t tried UnMoo cheese yet, please, do yourself a favor and get some. This cheese is unlike any vegan cheese on the market, and it’s local!
The Pickleback. (And yes, that is also a vegan cheese pizza in the back! So amazing!)
OVERALL: Such an interesting concept for a pizza and I appreciate the thought that went into combining the flavors for this. UnMoo cheese, I have no words for how amazing you are. The Hop also offers vegan ranch to dip your pizza in! AMAZING! I can honestly say this is the best vegan pizza I’ve ever had.
Zorch Pizza
Zorch Pizza is a local food truck that is only open at certain breweries or locations on the weekends. Serving up huge New York-style pizza pies, this place also offers UnMoo’s cheese on their menu, along with an awesome vegan pepperoni option! While the price is a little high, the giant pizza sizes are huge. I got a slice for $5, plus a little extra for vegan pepperoni.
OVERALL: Zorch’s slices are generous, and they definitely don’t skimp on the cheese. The vegan pepperoni is such a nice touch! My only complaint is that you can only find them on weekends at certain breweries.
Fire & Hops Pizza Co.
This is a newer contender! Located in the Museum District, this neighborhood pizza joint offers a vegan pizza called the Vegana, complete with everything I always want on a pizza: vegan cheese (Daiya), zucchini, artichokes, cremini mushrooms, garlic, and basil. They even had kalamata olives! Yum!! The sauce was light, the crust was perfectly flaky and thin, and the beer was oh, so good. Even better, their pizzas come in individual sizes––so you can eat the whole thing, easily.
OVERALL: The vibe in the restaurant is great and it’s nice and toasty in there due to the pizza oven. While they only have one vegan option, it’s my idea of a pizza with perfect toppings, so I was very pleased. :) Also, I love their ever-changing beer list. Pizza and beer…what could be better?
Carmela’s
Located in Shockoe Bottom, Carmela's opened in summer 2019. Owned by the same owners of Belmont Pizzeria in the Museum District, this place serves vegan pizza with local UnMoo cheese! The place is very quaint and as soon as you walk in you're hit in the face with the smell of freshly-made pizza dough. Any of their pizzas can be made vegan (by asking for vegan cheese and no meat, pesto, etc.). You can either make your own pizza with certain toppings or choose one of their signature pizzas. Being the mushroom lover I am, I chose the Funghi, which had red sauce, cremini mushrooms, parsley, tarragon, truffle oil, sea salt, and I asked for UnMoo cheese. (Excuse the terrible photos––I went at night!)
OVERALL: Carmela's dough was perfectly crisp and a good cross between thin and thick. They were very generous with the cheese (which I appreciated!) and the sauce was flavorful without being too overpowering. However, what really made this pizza was the truffle oil––it added such a depth of flavor that perfected the entire pizza! I ate the entire thing, easily. This one ranks very high on my list and I will definitely be back again! Do yourself a favor and go grab a pizza for lunch––you won't regret it.
Pupatella
This place has two locations (one in Richmond, the other in Glen Allen) and serves up Neopolitan-style pizza! Fun fact: they’re actually an Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) certified restaurant! On top of being crazy authentic, they also serve everyone’s favorite local cheese, UnMoo. Order the Margherita pizza (vegan style) with UnMoo.
OVERALL: This dough was perfectly crispy and chewy in ALL the right places! The sauce had such an amazing depth of flavor, but there wasn’t too much (which is how I like my pizza!). As for the cheese, I am a die-hard UnMoo fan, so this was perfect. I loved the little slices of cheese and bits of basil scattered across the pizza. Because the dough wasn’t heavy, I was able to eat my personal pizza easily and felt happily satisfied when finished. Pupatella seems to know the trick: simple is sometimes better!
Sergio’s Pizza
A local favorite in Midlothian, Sergio’s has been around since 1990. The restaurant offers classic Italian fare, pizza, pasta, and a great list of local craft beers. Just recently, the restaurant added Daiya cheese as an option for their pizzas. I love a doughy pizza, so this was a treat! This was the Alla Romana pizza, with mushrooms, green peppers, artichokes, onions, and black olives.
OVERALL: The dough was fluffy and perfect for classic pizza. While the Daiya cheese was generic, the fact that they use a pizza oven made sure it melted well. I also love that you can choose to have specialty pizzas or pizzas with a lot of toppings! I love olives, onions, and artichokes on my pizza so this really hit the spot. This pizza is perfect if you’re looking for a comfort food “works” pizza.
